Azerbaijan, geographic region that comprises the extreme northwestern portion of Iran. It is bounded on the north by the Aras River, which separates it from independent Azerbaijan and Armenia; on the east by the Iranian region of Gīlān and the Caspian Sea; on the south by the Iranian regions of Zanjān and Kordestān; and on the west by Iraq and Turkey. Azerbaijan is about 40,000 square miles (100,000 square km) in area.
Iranian Azerbaijan was a centre of several ancient civilizations. It formed part of Urartu and later of Media. In the 4th century bce it was conquered by Alexander the Great and was named Atropatene after one of Alexander’s generals, Atropates, who established a small kingdom there. The area returned to Persian (Iranian) rule under the Sāsānians in the 3rd century ce. The Arabs controlled Azerbaijan from the 7th century until Turkish nomads overran it in the 11th century. Thenceforth the inhabitants of the region were Turkish speakers. The region was overrun by the Mongols in the 13th century, and, under the ruler Hülegü, Azerbaijan became the centre of a Mongol empire extending from Syria on the west to the Oxus River (now Amu Darya) on the east. Tabrīz, the region’s largest city, was the capital of this empire and became a centre of cultural and commercial life.
Tabrīz was subsequently the capital of the Turkman dynasties of the Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu (1378–1502). In the early 16th century Azerbaijan was the cradle of the Ṣafavid dynasty, and subsequently the area was fought over by the Ottoman Turks and the Iranians until Nādir Shāh expelled the Turks in the 1740s.
During the 18th century the Russians gradually encroached on the area. The Russo-Iranian Wars of 1804–13 and 1826–28, which ended, respectively, in the Treaties of Golestan and Turkmenchay, gave the Azeri-speaking area of the Caucasus to the Russian Empire, thereby permanently separating it from Iranian Azerbaijan.
In the early 20th century Azerbaijan was the cradle of the revolutionary movement that gave Iran its constitution in 1906. The area was briefly occupied by the Turks in World War I and was held by the Soviet Union during World War II. In 1945 the Soviets set up the short-lived Kurdish Republic in western Azerbaijan and the communist-dominated Sovereign Republic of Azerbaijan in western Azerbaijan, but Iranian forces regained control of the region in 1946–47 once the Soviet armed forces had withdrawn back across their border.
Iranian Azerbaijan is composed of high plateaus with elevations from 5,000 to 6,000 feet (1,500 to 1,800 m) and lower-lying depressions averaging from 3,000 to 5,000 feet (900 to 1,500 m) in elevation. The eastern part of the Zagros Mountains run north-south through Azerbaijan, and the overall effect is of a stair-step topography, with fault scarps defining a number of basins and lowland depressions. Large volcanic cones, such as Sabalān (15,787 feet [4,812 m]) and Sahand (12,172 feet [3,710 m]), dot the high plateau, and the region is subject to earthquakes.
Rainfall is relatively heavy over much of the plateau, and perennial streams have cut gorgelike valleys in places. The average annual precipitation varies from 12 to 35 inches (300 to 900 mm). Azerbaijan is thus one of the few regions in Iran that receives enough rainfall to permit farming without the use of irrigation. The major rivers are the Aras in the north, with its tributary, the Qareh Sū; the Qezel Owzan in the east, with its tributaries, the Qarānqū and Aidughmish; and the Zarrīneh (Jaghātū). The climate is extreme, with hot, dry summers alternating with cold, snowy winters. In western Azerbaijan is Lake Urmia, a shallow, highly saline lake that covers anywhere from 1,750 to 2,300 square miles (4,500 to 6,000 square km), depending on the season.
The population consists mainly of Azeri-speaking Turks who use an Arabic script and are Shīʿite Muslims. There are also some Kurds and Armenians. The Kurds are Sunnites, and the Armenians are Christians. Agriculture is the principal occupation of the people. The most fertile agricultural lands are around Lake Urmia. Crops include barley, wheat, rice, indigo plants, potatoes, sugar beets, walnuts, almonds, fruits, and vegetables. Sheep and goats are also raised. Industries, concentrated mainly in Tabrīz, produce tractors, factory machinery, cement, textiles, electrical equipment and tools, animal fodder, turbines, motorcycles, clocks and watches, processed foods, and agricultural implements. Elsewhere in the region are sugar mills, textile mills, and food-processing plants. Coarse carpets and rugs are woven, and metalware is produced on a small scale. Copper, arsenic, kaolin, coal, salt, lead, and building stone are mined. A network of roads links the region’s main cities, including Tabrīz, Orūmīyeh, Ardabīl, Mahābād, and Marāgheh, with each other, and an oil pipeline runs from Tabrīz to Tehrān.